Wednesday, May 28, 2008

I recently bought Trix yogurt for Caleb and today he was eating a new flavor. He didn't seem to like it so I took a bite of it. Let me just tell you the Berry Bolt flavor is revolt-ing! So much so, that after I tasted it, I shuddered and said "bluuuuck." (Not sure if that's the correct spelling but you get the idea.) When I did that, he cracked up. So I kept making the noise and he kept cackling!!! It was so funny, I grabbed my camera to capture the moment.

Caleb is in the 'parrot' stage of his life so at the end of the video, I asked him to say two of his favorite sayings:

Our weekend was filled with graduation ceremonies, parties, picnics and a whole lot of fun.We started by attending the graduation Friday night of our local high school. Several kids from our church were graduating.Emma, Brookes and Dougie.Brookes was valedictorian of her class!She's as sweet as she is smart!!!

Brookes, me and Katelyn. I have had the privilege of mentoring these two sweet girls.

Saturday morning, we headed to the farm, which is the house that my grandparents built. Before the graduation party, we got in a little fishing. I love to see my kids fishing in the same pond I grew up fishing in!

Dougie and Paps (my dad).

This is the pond we were fishing in.

Emma and Jared, the graduate!It's so hard for me to believe that he isold enough to graduate!!!

Here are some of the great grand kids.

Back: Holton, Dougie, Anson

Front: Haley, Haven, Emma, Jessie and Hannah

Emma and Dougie left Sunday morning to go on a trip with their dad. :(On Sunday afternoon, we had a church picnic. We had a great time fellowshipping and eating but I didn't take one picture. I'm sure you're relieved.On Memorial Day, Steven left at 6am and went fishing on the Savannah river with a friend. Caleb and I did absolutely nothing! He slept until 9:45 am. He ate his breakfast and within an hour, he was asking to go take a nap. So he went back to bed and slept til almost 1pm!I laid on the couch and watched the Jon and Kate plus 8 marathon!After Steven got home, we invited some friends over and we cooked some hamburgers and hot dogs. I think we actually ate about 8pm. But it was a fun day.I hope you had a great weekend as well!

A few weeks ago, we bought some fresh strawberries from a farm close to the kids school. I'm not kidding when I tell you, those were the sweetest strawberries I had ever put in my mouth! I used some of those strawberries and made us some homemade jam.

So when thinking about gifts for the teachers, I thought why not give them something homemade.So on Monday afternoon, we stopped by the strawberry farm and bought a bucket of strawberries.

That large bucket cost $8!!!

Now before I go any further, please don't think I'm some kind of domestic diva, whipping up cooked batches of homemade jam, cause I'm definitely not.If you buy this:

It has a simple, super easy way to prepare jam.Y'all it's so simple, even I can do it!

Here's the finished product:

The kids helped make the jam and pour it into the jars. I bought the jars and the fabric fromwal-mart. All together, I spent $17 and we made enough to give 2 jars each of their teachers (they have 2 teachers a piece), a jar to the teacher of their choice, and a friend.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Hey everybody!!! I'm back. Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. Well, guess what? Today is the LAST Wednesday of SCHOOL!!!! Well, right now I'm pretty bored. Caleb is taking a nap, and Dougie is outside playing with 1 of his neighborhood friends named Cannon. Please pray for 1 of my BEST friends, Cammie. She is having her tonsils taken out tomorrow at 9 am, and will not be back to school this week. For any of you who don't know, I fractured my foot a little less than 3 weeks ago. My dad talked to my mom and they decided that I get to return to wearing normal shoes (instead of my boot!). Well, Dougie and Cannon are throwing water balloons at our neighbors, Cad and Mason. Well, that's all for now cu l8r!!

Well it's Wednesday and y'all, I'm tired!Dougie had his end of the year party on Monday. Then his last baseball game was Monday night. After the game, we had the team party and he got his trophy. Tuesday was Emma's end of the year party. And then we came home and worked on their teacher's gifts. (I'll post about that later. It has something to do with the picture of Dougie holding the bucket of strawberries!)At the kids' school, they don't have your run-of-the-mill party. Both of their classes had a pool party. So Caleb and I spent, all day Monday and Tuesday, sitting by the pool. Caleb was a trooper and provided lots of entertainment for the kids and parents.Yesterday before school dismissed, Dougie's teacher had a mini honor's day and gave out certificates to each of the students. Dougie received "The Best Reader" award. Yeah Dougie!!!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Thanks for praying. My father in-law came through the surgery and seems to be doing well. He didn't get out of surgery until 8pm last night and after getting a bite to eat, we came back home. We got home around midnight and today has been filled with trying to catch-up!Thanks again for praying for him!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Hey Y'all, please be praying for my father in-law. He had a heart cath yesterday (Tues.)and he has 5 blockages. He is in surgery as I am typing this.We spent the night at my in-laws house last night and this is the first chance I've had to get to a computer. We're in the hospital library and I'm trying to keep Caleb quiet....yeah right!Don't know when I'll get to post again but just be praying.Thanks and love y'all dearly!

Monday, May 12, 2008

I hope you all enjoyed Emma's post. She has been begging me for a blog and I have no intention of giving in to her, so I told her that she could post on mine.Our Mother's day celebration started Thursday, when my mom and dad arrived. They came to watch Dougie play ball and they got to see 2 great games. (See Emma's recap.)They stayed through Saturday and it was sure hard to see them leave.On Sunday, I was served breakfast in bed! Cereal, an english muffin and of course, Mommy's cawkee! Then I was given the sweetest homemade card from Dougie, a beautiful Mother's bracelet with a matching daughter's bracelet from Emma and Steven gave me an awesome Sony mp3 player, yeah!!!!!We had a wonderful church service, despite the tornados that blew through early Sunday morning. Then we spent the rest of the day with Steven's mom and his family.It was a great day!I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day as well!

Friday, May 9, 2008

Hey!! What's up? I'm Emma. In case you don't know who I am, I'm Cheryl's daughter :). I'm 10 yrs. old and in 4th grade. I am a Christian. I got saved when I was 6. I was down in the office listening to "Amazing Love" then I felt Jesus knocking at the door of my heart (as my step-dad Steven who is a preacher says). I decided to let him in. So, my spiritual birthday is May 26,2004.My FAVE verse is Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me."My 7 (almost 8) yr. old brother, Dougie, had a baseball game tonight. Can you guess where this is leding? He hit a grand slam!!! The bases were loaded. The final score was 24 to 10. Dougie's team won!! Well, I can't think of anything else to say. I'll keep posting my own little blog on here because my MOM won't let me have my own blog, soooo keep checking in!! Also, to all you moms out there reading this, HAPPY (early) MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The Carson-Barnes Circus came to our town yesterday and we took the kids to the afternoon performance. Like we told the kids, this is an old-fashion, 3 ring circus that is held in a big tent, literally under the big top!It had everything that the big circus' have, excepts lion or tigers. But as long as they have elephants, I'm happy.Before the show started, Emma, Dougie and I rode a camel. Emma rode with her friend, Erica and Dougie and I rode together. All I have to say is that, I hope I never have to ride one through the desert!!!I tried to get some good pictures. Caleb was mesmerized for the first half. It was a pretty warm day, so it was hot in that tent. That's why Caleb is so sweaty.

I can't get the pictures to post here, so I'm going to do a seperate post for the slideshow!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

My sister, Laura, has started a blog. She is the slow one in our fam, so it takes her a while to catch up. Kidding, but she is slow, she eats slow, she takes forever to get ready and unless you just like standing around the card section of a store, don't EVER go card shopping with her!!!!!!!! Oh.My.Word.

Anyhoo, please stop by and make her feel welcome to the blogosphere.I love the name she came up with: "Grounded" and no, it's not a tribute to our childhood! lol :o)

Monday, May 5, 2008

We hosted a church-wide yard sale this weekend to raise money for our trip to Costa Rica. From July 18-25, we will be doing mission work with Score International in Costa Rica. The yard sale was a huge success and we raised over $1100! Almost everyone has raised the money they need through support and fundraising!

Here's Ms. Peggy trying to demonstrate how to use the Nordic Track.

These are the 'check-out' girls. The little table that we used for checking out, came from the church foyer. I'm pretty sure that every person who came to the sale inquired about that table. We probably could have sold it for a great price but decided we'd better not!

Caleb and Steven trying not get sunburned. Caleb wouldn't keep this cute hat on, but we tried!

While we were cleaning up, no one was paying attention to Caleb.He was trying his hardest to get into this bag of hotdogs. He was determined...........

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Anyone who spends some time in our home will quickly come to realize that Caleb is obsessed and I mean obsessed, with brushing his teeth. So just a few minutes ago, I gave him his toothbrush to chew on while I called Lifeway. I was on hold, sitting at the computer checking the bank account, when I heard an unususal sound.I heard the 'tapping' of the toothbrush, like when you and I finish and tap it on the side of the sink. But Caleb isn't tall enough to tap it against the sink. Oh yeah, did I mention that he has developed a love for playing in the toilet bowl?It took a couple of seconds for my feet to catch up with what my mind was telling them but when I rounded the corner to the restroom, Caleb was bringing the toothbrush up from the toilet bowl water towards his mouth!!!! SuperMom kicked in and I lept from the door to the toilet in a single bound and grabbed that toothbrush in one fail swoop!He wasn't very happy when he saw me throw it in the trash. He began wailing and gnashing his teeth. (Sorry I couldn't resist!) I promised him I'd buy him a new one but he couldn't have that one. And all the while, this took place, I was still on hold!

About Me

I am a child of God, a wife and a mother. My husband is a pastor and we have 4 beautiful children. We are a blended family and our life is anything but normal but God is constantly reminding me that He has plans for our future and that no matter what we go through, He is our hope!